Can Kia crossover into the luxury SUV market?

KIA teased the new car during its 2016 CES press conference.

At this month's North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, Korean automaker KIA will be revealing the KCD12 concept, a vehicle that showcases a new, stronger design laungage and a stronger emphasis on delivering luxury and advanced technology as well as reliability.

And although it is just a concept, it is understood that it will very closely preview a real-world production counterpart aiming to drive into the higher echelons of the full-size SUV market in North Amercia, as well as its native Korea.

Teasing the new car during its 2016 CES press conference, KIA said the car would signpost a new stronger, more confident design language that will eventually percolate through the company's entire range and that in terms of creature comforts, the KCD12 would boast "state-of-the-art health-and-wellness technology."

And technology is something in which KIA is investing heavily. It is establishing a standalone brand -- Drive Wise -- dedicated to creating next-generation safety and active driver assistance systems and, like all of the big carmakers at this year's Las Vegas event, the company used its CES stand as a platform for promoting its vision of the self-driving vehicle of the future and the strides it's already taken towards achieving it.

"Kia is undergoing a very promising and gradual process of introducing partially and fully autonomous technologies to its vehicles. Although the first marketable fully-autonomous car from Kia will not be available in the immediate future, the work our R&D teams are currently doing to develop our range of Drive Wise technologies is already improving on-road safety and driver assistance. The innovations presented at this year's show demonstrate the future direction we are taking," said Tae-Won Lim, Senior Vice President, Central Advanced Research and Engineering.

These technologies include autonomous highway driving; autonomous emergency braking; and traffic jam and parking assist features. They will come together to offer a partially autonomous production car by 2020 -- the same deadline that the rest of the automotive industry is targeting -- but KIA is being slightly more realistic about when full autonomy will arrive: 2030.

As for the KCD12 concept, it will be revealed in the flesh on January 11.